Generally speaking, chain restaurants can be some of the most difficult places for vegetarians and vegans to find menu selections that they can eat. I have started writing the “What A Vegetarian Eats At…” series to highlight both the positives and negatives of specific chain restaurants located across America. In the first WAVEA post, we learned that Chipotle is a pretty vegetarian/vegan friendly restaurant. Now, let’s see how one of my other favorite chain restaurants measures up.
What a Vegetarian Eats At…Panera Bread
Panera Bread has several vegetarian lunch/dinner options. Vegetarians will find several salads, sandwiches, and soups that are meatless. Panera Bread even labels whether or not each specific soup is vegetarian or not. Generally speaking, when I eat at Panera Bread I select the “You Pick Two Option.” This option enables you to choose two of the following three choices: a salad, a cup of soup, or half of a sandwich. My favorite “You Pick Two” includes both a cup of soup and half of a sandwich. My favorite soup is the Vegetarian Garden Vegetable Soup with Pesto. However, the soup options alter from day-to-day. On this particular day that I visited the restaurant, my favorite soup was not offered. Therefore, I selected the Classic Cafe Salad, which includes field greens and romaine lettuce, onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, and balsamic vinaigrette dressing.
Though I was a bit disappointed to not have my favorite soup to eat, this salad was a great alternative. For being a “side salad” it was rather large, and I can never get too many veggies so it was the perfect selection. The vegetables were all very fresh and the salad dressing was fantastic. I will definitely select this as one of my two choices more often.
For my second selection of the “You Pick Two” option, I chose my go-to sandwich: the Cafe Mediterranean Veggie sandwich, which includes zesty peppers, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, feta cheese, and cilantro jalapeno hummus served on tomato basil bread. This sandwich is the bomb! 🙂 The bread is soft, flavorful, and delicious, the vegetables are fresh, and the peppers and hummus give it a nice spicy kick.
Edited to add: I have since been told that the feta cheese is NOT vegetarian. Therefore, make sure you order it without!
Yum! I am starting to crave this sandwich again just from looking at the pictures. I might be making a stop by Panera Bread one of these days..soon! 😉
With the “You Pick Two” selection, Panera Bread also offers a side choice of potato chips, bread, or an apple. I generally try to go with the lighter and healthier option: an apple! It is a great way to balance out the meal, and often I am full from the sandwich and salad or soup and end up taking the apple with me as a snack on the go.
I would say that Panera Bread is definitely one of the more vegetarian-friendly “fast food” chain restaurant options around. Some other vegetarian options to choose from include: a grilled cheese sandwich, a tomato and mozzarella panini, macaroni and cheese, vegetarian black bean soup, vegetarian creamy tomato soup, and a Greek cafe salad (again, avoid the feta cheese). Most of the other menu options could surely also be made vegetarian by asking for them to be made without the optional chicken, bacon, etc.
Several of the bakery items at Panera Bread are also vegetarian, and even vegan, friendly. A few days ago a co-worker brought Panera Bread bagels to work and I was able to select from several vegan bagel options. I chose the plain sesame bagel and it was delicious. It is nice to know that both vegetarians and vegans can find breakfast, lunch, and dinner options at Panera Bread. You can be certain that Panera Bread will be one of my go-to “fast food” chain restaurants to eat at in the future….and hopefully in the near future, at that! 😉
Do you like Panera Bread? What are some of your favorite Panera Bread menu offerings?
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That’s exactly what I get at Panera! Delicious.
Isn’t it so good?? It is nice to be able to eat healthy and feel good about your menu selections, especially at a “fast food” restaurant!
The avocado chicken cobb salad! You could get it w/o chix!
That sounds incredibly delicious because I LOVE avocado. Thanks for the suggestion!
Love Panera Bread. I need to try the Cafe Mediterranean Veggie sandwich next time I go there.
Yes, you do! 🙂
My favorite thing is cinnamon crunch bagels that are sliced like bread. I am sure they are not vegetarian or healthy but they are yummy good.
Oops I meant vegan.
You’re right. They are not vegan, and not the healthiest option ;), but I am sure that they are delicious!
I love your WAVEA posts! So creative. I feel a little like a wierdo because I haven’t eaten at Panera Bread in years, but you’re making me want to revisit it. 🙂
You really should. You have been missing out! 😉
I live for Chipotle, they are perfect for an on the go meal. Panera is good too, but I only found one sandwich that was vegan friendly. It was delicious thought, and I am sure I could mix and match to make my own.
It is definitely more challenging to find vegan options at chain restaurants. You are lucky that you have been able to find so many vegan restaurants to eat at! 🙂
Thanks for sharing this! I found an app called Vegan Eating Out (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.VeganEatingOut&hl=en) that lists what is vegan at a lot of chain restaurants. I don’t know if it’s 100% complete, but it helps a lot when you decide to go somewhere last-minute and aren’t sure what your options are.
Thanks so much for sharing that. It sounds like a great app!
Be careful with the cheese you eat there because a lot of them have rennet and that’s not vegetarian friendly. Pretty sure the Med veg bread has rennet cheese in it
Ahh, bummer! Thanks for the heads up. I’ll have to check their ingredient lists more closely!
Feta cheese, and cheese in general, is vegetarian. It’s not vegan, though. Vegetarian means anything that isn’t meat. Or am I missing something?
This post is explaining what Vegetarians (not vegans) may eat at Panera Bread. However, I have been told from several vegetarians that the feta cheese at Panera is NOT vegetarian. Some cheese contains animal rennett, thus making it not vegetarian. I imagine maybe this is the case with the feta at PB, but it has been so long since I’ve eaten at Panera Bread that I am not certain of that. I hope that helps!
Okay, thanks for the info. I had no clue.
I didn’t at first either!! 😉
I just started my vegetarian journey, and while I know eventually I’ll have to cook, it’s nice to know Panera has so many options.
Yes, it is always nice to find options at “fast food” restaurants!